After a slow first half, the Cavs found their rhythm in the third and fourth quarters. After letting an 8 point lead slip, the Cavs game back with a bunch of HUGE Kyrie shots to close this one out. On to the good, the bad, and the rest…

The Good

Marreese Speights – WOW was he on, nabbing an excitement-filled double double. While the Cavs had some issues scoring insdie, Mareesse was hitting pretty much everything from outside the paint. Speights was constantly left open by the Thunder’s bigs who, despite their prowess defending the paint, had some issues with the big guy shooting Js. Marreese also had the highlight of the game, throwing down one of the hardest dunks I have ever seen. (Seriously, if you missed the game, go look it up.). I’ve gotta say I love what MS (can I call him that? What’s his nickname?) brings to this team – he has the power to score inside, but the ability to face up. Here’s to hoping he sticks around for a while.

Kyrie Irving in the 3rd and 4th Qs – Especially the fourth. Kyrie was his usual amazingly clutch self, scoring 13 points in the final 3 minutes of the game (!), including another HUGE step back 3. Kyrie also played surprisingly well off the ball, hitting one notable three off a Waiters pass. His shiftiness was pretty much the only cure for the issues the Cavs had inside and got him to the line quite a bit in the remaining ticks of the game.

Dion Waiters As Primary Distributor – Waiters had another mediocre game as a scorer, but tonight proved his value as the primary distributor. On more than a few occasions Dion would drive to the rim, only to dish out to an open man. Netting 6 assists, Waiters also did a great job in pass-to-assists, especially coming off of TT. These are the kinds of games I’d like to see on Neon Dion’s off nights – he still did his silly contested-step back thing, but continued to prove valuable because of his court vision. As long as Kyrie keeps moving when the ball is in Waiters’ hands, I’d like to see the team play more with Waiters are the main PG.

The Cavs Bench – I’m going to go ahead and throw CJ into the bench mix because, for the most part, he spends his time there. 3J, Livingston (who I still love) and Speights did a fantastic job of maintaining a close game while the big names were on the bench. Miles, going 5-7, hit a few HUGE threes to stop Thunder runs, and Livingston continued to show his value as a leader and bench PG. I really can’t say enough about how valuable Livingston has been to this bench – the guy basically directs the D when he’s out there. If he can be had for a cheap number, the Cavs better do their darnedest to re-sign him.

The Bad

TT – Tristan had a decent game on the boards and hit a few big shots at the end of the game, but that was basically it. Tristan had an incredibly difficult time with the Thunder front court, who did an amazing job preventing TT from getting into position to score. This was a game where his lack of ability to hit any sort of jumper really hurt him – instead of being able to make the defenders pay for waiting down low, he was forced to enter the post, where he couldn’t manuver inside. One play that sticks out was actually when he tried to post up Durant midway through the first. While trying to back him down, Tristan couldn’t get Durant to bite on his moves. In addition, Thompson had a tough time containing Ibaka. You can’t really blame him for finding it tough to defend a guy like Serge, but he’ll have to start learning how to stop long PFs from facing up and hitting a J.

Dion Waiters as a scorer – I touched on it in the good, but Waiters had a bad night shooting. Going up against one of the best interior Ds, Waiters all but abandoned attack mode in favor of the step back J. And it generally didn’t end well.

Kyrie’s D – I wont go nuts on this topic, since it’s been covered pretty damn thoroughly, but Kyrie’s D has GOT to get better. I understand Westbrook is one of the best around, but Irving let Westbrook blow past him with complete ease. At least make it look like you’re trying, Kyrie!

The Rest

Zeller – I actually loved what I saw from Zeller tonight. Despite having some issues scoring inside (duh, I’ve beaten that horse to death) he actually played with a lot of tenacity, snagging 5 O boards. For a guy who has struggled mightily recently, it’s nice to see he wont get pushed around too badly by bullies like Perkins. Now if we could only fix that 15 footer…

Gee – had a quietly decent game; he really bothered Durant a lot tonight and even forced some nice turnovers. I’m OK with him only scoring 6 as long as he focuses on D.

Byron Scott’s Rotation – Looks like he’s finally found it. Keep your eye on this topic to see how it develops for the rest of the season.

Really enjoyed this game. Big shot Kyrie is a blast. Cavs have a four day break, taking on the Bobcats at home on Wednesday.

As always…GO CAVS!

62 Responses to “Recap – Cavs: 115, Thunder: 110”

Tristan went 4-13 (30%) and allowed Ibaka to score 18 points. There’s no hatred here – TT had a bad game. Am I supposed to ignore that? He’s a rebounding machine, yes, but he had a VERY tough time against this interior D.

It’s ironic that Nate said “Haters gon’ Hate” in his post, because that’s exactly what he’s doing. People here like to complain that the writers have a narrative that they stick to, but how amount some commenters? Yeesh.

Anyways. nice recap. Kyrie was amazing, Dion was good, Speights (I submit Spaghetti Monster as my nickname of choice) was a beast. TT had an off night, but whatever. Good CJ Miles was in attendance today, and it was such a fun game.

Cooley – AGREED. Holy crap did he get superstar treatment. There was one play where (I think?) TT blocked Durant driving to the rim, and KD just sort of flopped down and got a foul. Can’t believe he’s not going to get a warning for that one…

Dion had a couple nice finishes. Gee was pretty good on D for a change but he still miserable on offense between bad passes and not making passes, forcing J’s against someone 5 inches taller. I didn’t think TT played poorly, I thought he challenged both Ibaka and perkins on D and went into the defense even if he did get some shots blocked

That’s the thing about Durant that makes me like him less and less as a player every time I watch him. He embellishes any sort of contact whatsoever, and it looks bad because his skinny little arms are like 6 feet long. It’s jarring to watch him next to a warrior like Westbrook. The difference couldn’t be starker the way the approach driving to the rim.

The NBA seriously needs to address flopping yesterday. Either that, or have a flopping contest at the All-Star game. By ignoring it (or paying lip service), the league is effectively condoning/endorsing flopping as a legitimate part of the game.

KI was clearly more interested in this game. Went point for point with KD in the 4th, but 13 in final 2:52 is video game ridiculousness. Absolutely loved the Speights crush on the baseline jam! You could just see it in his face that he was not going to be denied. Crowd sounded as loud as I’ve heard it (on tv anyway) in quite some time. The bench bunch is playing with a ton of chemistry and confidence. Amazing the transformation Livingston, Speights and Ellington have made. CJ fits in nicely with them also. No reason both he and Ellington can’t be on the floor for 15-18 each per night. TT may have been a little overmatched by OKC front court, but he still got his double double and had a nice bucket in the fourth. Considering that Ibaka is a serious contender for most improved player this year, I’ll take it. Favorite stat of the night: Cavs score 39 points in the fourth quarter against one of the best (if not the best) teams in the NBA. Granted a third of them were by KI, but damn that’s terrific.

First game I actually made it out to in awhile(I live a few hours away), and I’m so glad I did. The crowd was indeed extremely intense, I thought the roof was going to blow off in the 4th quarter. Here’s hoping this is what the future will be like!

Kyrie is wearing down a little, but he was incredible at the end.
I don’t remember ever seeing anybody play any better closing games in my 55 years of watching basketball.
This was a fine article, and I agree with almost all of it.
Kyrie’s defense does hurt, but his offense more than makes up for it.
Tristan has made remarkable improvement.
Waiters played well tonight; he will shoot better when he finds out how to get the shot he wants.
Zeller played well at times, but Tyler needs to get himself in Basic Athletic Position, knees bent, weight centered, and then he needs to get angry at the abuse he’s taking, and return it by grabbing ball, slamming dunks, driving to the hoop, all with attitude.

I’ve been kicking around personal nicknames for Kyrie for over a year now, but after this game I think I finally settled on one that feels right. Among me and my close friends and family, he will forever be known as Wolverine. The boy is a F’ing animal.

Dion had 6 dimes and 6 boards and had the best plus/minus of ANY starter. He also did not “abandon” driving! His last 3 shots were two lay-ups for scores and a jumpshot that Ibaka got a piece of. You can have an opinion just don’t try and change the facts.

Really like the way guys like Dion, TT, Kyrie and even (surprisingly )Zeller played tough tonight. OKC challenged everything but Dion and TT kept attacking. Love the drive and verve.

Best defense Gee has played in a while though he still goes for silly steals too often. Speights is a true old-school big man. Wish he and TT would defensive rebound better, however.

Also, Dion still getting jobbed on calls again. Though it was worse in the beginning of the game. He got a couple calls later in the game. Zeller gets the shitty rookie call thing as well. Just want to point it out occasionally…

Thought about that, so Im changing UM’s handle to the Michigan Miniature Rosters, or Smallcocks for short.

Q’s
-Is Kyrie going to peak higher than D Rose?
-Would you trade Kyrie for Howard or Rose straight up?
-Have the Cavs lucked into 2 of the top 3 #1 picks in the last ten years?
-Can you imagine them on the same team?

All I’m saying is, is that TT has to carry more than just his man on D because Zeller is a wet noodle and Kyrie is a revolving door on defense. Ibaka getting 18 I don’t think was a result of TT playing poorly on him. He had a lot of help responsibilities because of KD and Westbrook driving to the hole.

In addition, you said he had “decent” rebounding numbers. He had 12. Hardly decent. He came up with a huge bucket at the end, as well as a huge board. While I don’t think he should have been labeled as a good night, he certainly wasn’t bad.

Also, great game! I would have to agree with what Nate just said though. I know TT shot the ball poorly today, Kyrie did as well until he got hot. OKC is one of the best shot blocking teams in the league and you could CLEARLY see that tonight. I think Tristy had 5 offensive and 3 assists on top of that. Ibaka is much improved and the entire team had trouble defending the Thunder.

I thought Speights and Kyrie played great and everyone else was above average, and we won! I have a secret crush on Tristan though. What do you guys think he could average next year? Realistically, 14 pts, 11 rebs. Optimistically, 24 pts, 16 rebs. Ideally, 35 pts, 24 rebs

I get what you’re saying about having to carry a larger load, but TT was getting bullied down low. Furthermore, something I should have included in this recap (can’t believe I didn’t, actually) – TT was directly responsible for almost all of OKC’s O rebounds – Ibaka had 6 O rebounds and Collison had 3 (almost all of which came while TT was defending him.) Again, it’s not really horrific that TT had trouble against these guys because they’re two of the craftiest PFs in the NBA, but TT did a sub-par job of boxing out his man. He did great work on the offensive boards, don’t get me wrong, but he definitely got beat by Ibaka/Collison on more than a few occasions.

But if this is going to be one of his lowest outputs of the season from here on out, I think I can live with it.

KJ – maybe I should’ve written “all but abandoned” attack mode. You are right that at the end of the game he went back into it, but after difficulty going to the hoop in the first, he started settling for mid-range jumpers. He actually didn’t shoot THAT much over the corse of the game, taking 0 shots in the fourth. Again, I can live with all of this if he distributes the ball like he did last night. The offense flowed so so SO much better when moving through him.

1. Alonzo Gee is a horrific offensive player and an average to below average, high motor defensive player who does a decent job against guys who aren’t particularly long. His atrocious offensive game makes it incredibly difficult to get any space down low as a good defense like the Thunder’s can easily sag off of him to crowd the paint. In this particular game, the combo of zero floor spacing from our first unit and Zeller’s refusal to roll off the frickin PnR, made it virtually impossible for Tristan to get his face up game going from the left or right block. That has been his gravy for the last month, (he did get one off in Ibaka’s face from the left side with his usual 2 dribble to the middle right handed jump hook) but in this game, the Thunder didn’t even allow the catch at either block. After that, TT got a bit out of his comfort zone and lost track of shot blockers at times, but he, by no means, had a BAD game.

2. Irving’s D continues to be beyond miserable, Sessionsesque even. When somebody says it is TT’s fault for allowing “his” man to get offensive rebounds, it is blatantly clear that he doesn’t understand the role of help defense. TT can’t help contain a dribble driving Westbrook AND box out Serge at the same time. Did TT miss a boxout opportunity or two?, ya probably, but he was certainly not personally responsible for all the offensive boards. That is also on the onball defender (Irving mostly) and the secondary helper to find TT’s man if he is forced to contest at the rim. So again, TT wasn’t great in this game, but it was not a BAD game. jeezz…

Dion had a relatively good floor game and was going or moving the ball on with a bit more impetus. It was good to see. I wish he would stop shooting from the right side of the floor, though. Grantland had a nice breakdown of shooting percentage based on floor location, and not just distance. I’m pretty sure there was mention of Dion’s poor right side shooting on the blog before, but it bears repeating. His stepback J from the left side is a high percentage shot for him. He really leads with his elbow on his shot so his shoulders are at about a 45 degree angle from the target. That is totally fine, but from the right side, that means that he has to really rotate to get his shoulders around, and he rarely gets all the way there. From the left, his shoulders are already in his shooting position and his balance is far greater. What’s interesting, is even his catch and shoot opportunities from the right side aren’t as good. He needs to simply focus on his footwork on the rightside catch and shoot, and eliminate stepbacks from that side. His off ball D was more attuned as well. Solid overall game, and yes, a few whistles could have helped his cause.

We have developed a bit of a pattern since we have our new, MUCH improved bench. They play strikingly better defense than our starters. (Tristan has been playing with this group for Luke the last few guys and has helped on that end.) Livingston is a huge factor as an onball defender and even if he gets beat by a step, continues working back into the play using his length to contest or block from behind. Marreese and Ellington are solid, physical defenders and Miles also plays with good positioning. We have been shutting people down with that lineup. On offense, our floor spacing his way better with 3 guys who can really shoot it. Livingston needs to take the shot out of his post game as he is a very poor shooter even with the “mismatch”, but off the dribble going glass, he is pretty solid. Obviously when CJ and Mareese are on fire, it helps, but part of the reason they hit so many shots is because they are often WIDE open…..

THEN, Kyrie comes back in and the opposing team IMMEDIATELY goes on a scoring rampage because they can avoid Livingston’s onball D. We lose a bit of momentum until Kyrie goes all Uncle Drew on everyone to close out the game.

It is a somewhat frustrating pattern to watch as I would obviously prefer that our D doesn’t go to seed everytime Kyrie comes back in, but it is also incredible to watch him get those first possessions out of his system and show why he is the most offensively skilled PG in the league today.

All in all, it was a very fun game to watch, and the team is infinitely more entertaining since the Memphis trade. I certainly don’t miss watching Sloan and Pargo play basketball. Now if we could only bury Gee on the bench or trade him, I could watch the team without wanting to throw things. (I don’t get angry watching Kyrie’s D, just totally and utterly perplexed by his lack of effort and optimistic that it will improve. Gee is has not improved at all and will not. In fact, since Andy went out LAST year, Gee has been pretty disastrous on offense and his mediocre, “try hard” D doesn’t come anywhere close to making up for it.)

Guys
Don’t expect Mallory to ever admit a mistake. It’s just not in his nature.

As for Irving, yep he’ll have a higher peak and probably a longer career than Rose. He’s just a much better shooter and so much smoother than Rose.
Nope I wouldn’t trade him for Rose or Howard.
And no, his nickname will never be Wolverine for obvious reasons

I’m glad that putting up a double-double in a win against the Thunder is considered a “bad game” for TT. Yeah, his FG% was poor this game, but he still had 11 points, 12 “decent” rebounds, and 3 assists. I wish Zeller would have a few “bad games” like this…

Instead of NBA Rumors about the Cavs flipping Speights at the deadline, I wish they would extend his contract at the deadline. If it’s true the Cavs wanted to draft him but ended up with Hickson instead, they should treat it like extending the contract of a homegrown draft pick they never wanted to lose. I don’t believe we could possibly get a better player with a late first round or second round pick.

I don’t know if we can afford to keep them next year but I would love to see a second unit of Livingston, Ellington, CJ Miles, Speights and Zeller and replace Gibson and Walton with whatever draft picks we bring in.

Yes, TT did have a rough game, but still helped the team win. TT had to battle a tough front line of Ibaka, Perkins, and Collison. More importantly, Speights took advantage of the matchup with speed and hustle.

For me, Tristan’s passing had also gotten better and better. He moves aggressively to the hoop, but kickouts from the block are also awesome. It shows TTs game is really growing.

Starting to get pissed about everyone bashing Kyrie’s D. Synergy (which rated him dead last in the league a year ago) now rates him above average. The Cavs are only 1.7 points per 48 minutes worse on defense when Kyrie’s in the game. He ranks 10th among point guards in steals. From a moderately athletic 20 year old point guard? I’ll take those numbers.

There’s a reason the layup is the most common shot in basketball…players routinely manage to get past their defender. Wake up people. It’s not just Kyrie. With the exception of a few defensive specialists, everyone gets beat on defense at times, and there’s absolutely no evidence that it happens to Kyrie more often than the average NBA player. Sure, if you watch a hundred replays of point guards blowing by Kyrie you’d think he’s a terrible defender. But it’s easy to come up with a compilation like that for any player.

Kyrie acquired a reputation as a terrible defender last season, when he actually was a terrible defender. At some point we have to realize that it’s no longer the case, and stop qualifying every positive comment about Kyrie with a negative one about his defense. It’s getting ridiculous.

I thought TT played a really solid game. Aggressive on the offensive end. He just didn’t get his normal shots to fall because OKC has elite interior D. the Defensive end, as others note, he has to leave his guy to help a lot because of the mistakes of other players. That is why Ibaka got 18. Ibaka did not score many (if any) points 1-on-1 against TT. He basically hit open jumpers when TT rightly was helping protect the rim.

Agreed Nathan. Keep on preaching. Kyrie is an average defender. Against great scorers (a la Westbrook), average defenders will look bad. But that does not mean he a terrible defender. It means Westbrook is an excellent scorer.

Did anyone notice Fred mentioned by Moniker on the telecast?!? Kyrie SwIrving to the Hoop!! CHYEAH! hhaha sorry T, fred has spoken. Also not to be an ass, but Wolverine is a terrible nickname as they show pictures of the Michigan M to get people to boo for free throws at the Q.

Sorry, Nate but that’s why defensive stats are still so lacking and the stat people will admit that. Kyrie can be like a swinging gate. He, like most young players, would rather let you score so he can get the ball back and score on you. We’ve seen it time and time again, including last night. He assumes you will eventually miss and he won’t. It worked last night. But it is living dangerously, to say the least…

Nathan do you watch the games? He’s worse this year. His numbers have probably improved because of the improvement of our help D. After he gets screened he stops playing. Everytime. I’d love you to show me a play where he fights throw a screen, and stops his guy or even one where he goes under a screen and stops the guy from getting to the hoop. I’d take a couple where he swithches and prevents the dish and easy layup or even just drops into the paint to rebound or rotates to a shooter

all excellent points. hope to see more of your comments here.
was at work for the game, and really sad i couldnt see it. anyone have links for cavs highlights? I really wanna see that dunk by speights and other highlights!

I’ve been reading this blog for a while, but haven’t commented till now. Gotta say, I think the hate for Kyrie’s defense is a bit unjustified at times, too. I’ve watched every game this year, and at times he can be bad, but I think the biggest fault in our defense is that our 5s (ie, Zeller) consistently get outhustled and bullied.

Also, Rodney, if you can, go back to this game and watch, for example, Kyrie’s D at 1:25 left in the third. It’s not an amazing play or anything, but he hustles around a screen and contributes to a shot clock violation caused by pretty tight team D for the whole 24. Just something I noted while watching last night.

Josh good comment and rebuttal. I still think its been beyond attrocius though. On another note though. Irving leads the league in scoring when his team wins. He averages 30 per contest in wins, on 52% on 21 attempts shooting, an insane 53 from three on 5 attempts, and 89 from the line on 6 attempts. Of the other 10 leading scorers only Hardens and Wades points go substantially up. Hardens rises 3 and wades 2. Both of those differences though can be accounted for by just shooting better percentages and betting more calls (free throws). Irvings attempts and percentages increase drastically. he takes a full 2 more shots, and 1 more free throw on top of shooting 5% better from the field and 11% better from three. This while his assist numbers being assist and turnover numbers getting better. My point to all of this is despite being 20 years old and the fact that he already has a high usage rate the more we give him the ball the better he plays and the more we win.

Kyrie’s Defense is still pretty terrible. But Rodney Mac, there are a couple plays this year where he gets through a screen or effectively switches. He still gets caught in no man’s land more often than he should, but there is improvement. I would definitely have to disagree with him being a plus defender, but he’s definitely not as atrocious as he was last year. As for people harping on it, I say we keep harping. The guy does it for a living, there’s no reason he ever should be trailing both the picker and the roller by 7-8 feet, which still seems to happen at least twice a game. I’m never gonna be spoiled by anyone’s play who is doing everything they should be doing for a win.

Kyrie’s a great young player who makes our team a lot better, no doubt. This does not make him immune to criticism. In fact, all of his unreached potential means he should be getting constructive criticism damn near every day. Do work kyire and become that MVP you have the skillset to be!

About the game though, I was watching Dion dribble and wondering why they never have him drive by kyrie’s man, suck him in, and kick it out to Kyrie for a rare catch and shoot 3. And boom, as it was playing it in my mind it unfolded on the court and Kyrie drained it! That is how the two of them should play together like I said in that last comment thread. Now I’ll call out waiters going baseline while Kyrie is driving for the And-1 on Wednesday. C’mon guys, chemistry is built one game at a time, keep it coming.

I get that he looks lazy when he’s trailing the pick and roll by 10 feet, but think about it. If he’s already beaten and has virtually no chance of catching up to the play and affecting it, why should he waste his energy sprinting to catch up anyway? If anything, I like that he stays where he is in these cases, as it puts the Cavs in position to run off a missed shot. Of course I agree that him initially letting his man get by him is a problem, and he probably lets that happen more often than he should, but after he’s already beat I won’t quibble with his decision not to waste energy pursuing the play in vain.

I think people bring it up a lot because with Irving it “looks” like an effort thing. Honestly, most people don’t understand the complexity of NBA defenses. What they do understand is: arms up, fighting through screens, contesting hard, putting a body into someone, etc etc. Yeah often when Kyrie gets screened he just accepts that he’s been screened. And he doesn’t often anticpate it or fight over, under, or through it. It’s just sort of what’s happening. Kinda like if you are getting boxed out, there’s not much you can do except maybe go over the back and risk fouling. Often you see big men sort of concede that they do not have the position to attempt this rebound. But I think on the ball, around the perimeter, you watch some guys furiously go under and recover, or go over and chase down, or fight through as hard as possible. Or maybe a coach schemes something. The Mike Brown Cavs religiously “showed” on the PnR. So if Z’s man was trying to pick Mo Williams, Z would hard show in the direction that the ball handler was looking to turn the corner, to momentarily cut off that angle, and try to retreat as quickly as possible in order to prevent the screener from being open on the roll. It was a pretty good system since you didn’t want big Z switching and covering the ball-handler or Mo Williams covering the big man rolling. The Magic were able to kill the Cavs in 09 because all their wings were so long they could just switch everything. The 06 Celtics did this to the Cavs as well. I’m not sure what the scheme is for Byron Scott’s Cavs. There is switching sometimes, but often the guy (Irving) getting screened just gets screened and pushed out of the play, and it becomes 4 on 5 rather quickly.

I agree with Scott Raab in the podcast with Mallory. At this juncture we need to focus on the positives even if we’re concerned with the negatives. In other words, it’s OK to bring up Kyrie’s defensive shortcomings/Waiters Shot selection, Zeller’s “Stay Puft” softness, but it’s too early to put these young guys in a prison defined by what they can’t do. LeBron dealt with that for years (not from us of course) but it was always about what he COULDN’T do (post game, consistent shooting, hitting long 2 game winners [huge eye roll]) and not an excitement and appreciation for the talents and hard work.

It’s hard with a losing team to focus on the positives. Basically, if someone plays like crap but the Cavs win it’s colored positive: see all the outcry over Mallory’s perceived Tristan negativity following OKC win. If someone plays great but there’s a loss, like the Detroit game it’s colored in negativity: see Rich’s tweets about C.J. Miles.

So while we all make it a business here to observe, analyze, prescribe, react, discuss, project, whatever…it’s too early to have super high expectations for players and then hold them to those expectations.

A lot of the complaints seem to be about Kyrie fighting through screens. Didn’t Byron complain about the current bigs/praise Speights about communication? If Zeller/TT aren’t communicating the screens well enough to Kyrie, what chance does he have to get through them?

Tom, no one on the planet defined lebron by what he couldn’t do until he lost to Boston in 08. up until then his career was on trajectory and everyone, even away from here, were saying all he needs is experience and he’ll have a shot at being the next Jordan. Then the boston loss, and the national media wondering why he didn’t have a post game yet, and the cleveland defense of him at all times. Then he finally did fix his post game and focus on it and won a championship.

I agree there was some unfair criticism of lebron from 08-10, but the criticism of his lack of desire to play in the post was completely warranted and should have been harped on more in Cleveland.

And Nathan, he shouldn’t waste energy chasing a play he’s already out of, but he should never be out of those plays to begin with! If he can’t get through the screen, guess what? He’s already on the screener and should act accordingly. No worries, the kid has improved and will likely continue to do so, but I’m probably gonna keep bringing it up until it starts happening less than twice a game.

I do understand that sometimes on a really good pick it’s hard to get over/under it. Sometimes you get knocked out of plays. I do think that happens to Kyrie too often, but in games where he’s interested, meaning games against opponents over .500, it happens to him less. I do think it’s definitely an effort issue.

Part of me wonders if Scott’s plan this year is to do individual player development in games against poor teams, and team development against tougher opponents. We do seem to play much harder as a team in games we’re supposed to lose, unless it’s against the Bulls or the Lakers.

JoshV – think about that for a second. You are actually speculating whether or not Scott’s game plan is to only take good teams seriously. This from the 4th worst team in the league. I get that here on this blog we can throw theories like that out there. It’s similar to the people saying (back in early December) – Chris Grant purposely made acquisitions (Miles, Pargo,etc) to tank. I mean, nothing would surprise me in the NBA, but that almost would.

Yeah I get that teams tank. I get that guys with a splinter in their finger might rest 3 days instead of 2 when you are going for ping pong balls. There is no way the mandate from the top is “PURPOSELY LOSE GAMES”. “be patient” != “PURPOSELY PLAN to lose”. That is ridiculous (to me). And yet, people actually think that with this team.

Let’s suppose that you find out tomorrow, with no uncertainty, that Byron Scott’s plan is NOT as you described it. That he doesn’t actually game plan to try to win against tough opponents while just messing around and trying out different things against the bad teams. If you knew that, with certainty – how does that change your opinion of him? Of Kyrie? Of Grant?

You can always make excuses for everyone. If the team’s GOAL is not to win on a given night – then sure – who cares about effort, or offensive execution, or defensive identity. It doesn’t matter that they lost by 20 to division rival Detroit or that they aren’t even winning 1 out of every 10 games against the “stacked” Central division. But I really don’t think that is the GOAL. Also, if this is just about individual player development – then Scott’s lineups truly do not make sense. Leuer couldn’t get out of the D league (I know I know that worked out great somehow) and Casspi is 24 and never plays. Why would you go with an 8 man rotation if your goal is player development? Why is Josh Selby in the D league if this is about player development? Why pick up Shaun Livingston? He’s not a spry 22 year old with some unknown ceiling. He was a player that made the Cavs better without sacrificing future flexibility.

I think the goal is to win as many games as possible while maintaining all the roster flexibility going forward. I really do not think the goal of this team is to tank but have some fun against the teams with a target on their backs (LAL, OKC, etc). Especially not AT HOME. They’ve laid some eggs at home against poor teams. That is not by design, I assure you.

-This is not a draft to tank for.
-Agree with the sentiment that Kyries main deficiency is how effective picks are against him. On ball, hes not bad.
-Little dude in a yellow uni eviscerating his opponents with a scowl = Wolvie. F Michigan.

One other thing, great point TP about conceding box out position. Andy hooks the arm and at leat makes his guy stay grounded or rebound with one arm. He always tries to knock it away before a guy can secure it, and contests the outlet pass. He scraps, regardless of position, and occasionally it works. You can always do that.

Kyrie simply doesn’t scrap on defense when screened. Doesn’t folow his man, doesn’t get a body on the screener.

T – yeah no one gets screened as easily as he does. I used to think it might be a team communication thing but watch the difference when Waiters (fights through), Livingston (chases down), or Boobie (anticipates) gets screened. Sometimes I wish Kyrie would just start going under the screen and daring guys to shoot 3s over him. For most guards I think it would be more effective than the help defenders scrambling to stop the penetration. Cavs get beat on PitP and swing outs to open 3 point shooters more than guys just launching over the top. I’m going to keep an eye on the team defense as a unit in the coming weeks. They have some personnel now – time for B Scott to go to work.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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